


Just Don't Do It

by TheSkyrimLife



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Don't Give Kids Guns, Ever - Freeform, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, it doesn't end well, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-02 01:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16777177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSkyrimLife/pseuds/TheSkyrimLife
Summary: Nina Rodriguez is bringing one of Arturo's guns to school. One day, things go terribly haywire.





	1. In Which Pete is a Lucky Bastard

“Dad, can I learn to use a gun?”

The question caught Erik by surprise. Shaun had never brought up the topic of firearms with him, ever. He swallowed nervously. “Well, what makes you ask that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, Nina always has one in her bag. Mr Zwicky got really mad at Arturo for letting her bring it,” Shaun nervously fiddled with his hands. “It looks cool, so could I have one?”

Erik felt his fists clenching. He clicked out of the Minutemen document he was working on and swiveled to face his son, grabbing him by the shoulders and staring into his eyes.

“Shaun, guns aren’t toys. Do you hear me? They are tools, only meant to protect and hunt. If she ever brings it to school again, tell me so I can do something. Do you understand me?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes sir.”

After Shaun finished his breakfast and scampered off to school with Nat, all Erik could do was drop his face in his hands and sigh.

Shaun felt as though there was more weight in his backpack when he stepped in the door. He wanted to tell Nina what his dad said, but then that might blow his cover. _I have a lot of enemies, buddy,_ he would always say. _What I say never goes to anyone._

Shaun knew when his dad got the serious look, the one where his eyes hardened and he would stare directly into your soul.

He placed his book bag in his cubby and sat at his desk, the one in the back row, next to Nat, who turned to tell him all the rumors before class. “Hey, Shaun, guess what?”

“What?”

“I heard that Erin kissed Gavin Everitts!”

Shaun looked over at Erin in shock. “What? No way! Was it on the mouth?”

Nat grinned and nodded. “Yup. Pete told me he saw them climb up into the bus on top of the school. They talked for a while and then Erin gave him a big fat smooch! His face was so red he looked like he was one of those pre-war strawberries!”

All Shaun could do was shake his head in wonder. “Wow. He’s lucky, I doubt anyone would ever kiss _me_.”

She shrugged. “Well, you never know what’ll happen around here most days,” She patted his shoulder sympathetically. “But I’m pretty sure your time will come.”

Later, after lunch, when they had free time, Shaun was showing Gavin how his new tato radio worked. “So, what you do, after you connect the tato to the speaker, you put the gum wrapper in between the two paper clips and voila!” The speaker began to crackle. Shaun held his breath.

All of a sudden, the opening lyrics of _The Wanderer_ began to play. “There you have it.”

Gavin’s jaw dropped. “T-that’s incredible! I’ve never seen anything like it. This could behold a new future for Diamond City’s power sources.”

The inventor gave a sad smile. “That’s a nice idea, but I just did it for fun.”

While Gavin continued to marvel about the radio, he walked over to where Phil was coloring a picture of the ocean. He seemed concentrated.

“I like your picture.”

He looked up, his eyes wide with surprise. “Uh, thanks.” He held out a crayon. “Do you want to try too?”

Shaun shrugged. “Sure, why not,” He grabbed the crayon. “I’m not a good artist, but it looks like fun.”

So, they sat there and quietly colored for a good ten minutes before it was interrupted by a sudden gunshot.

Time seemed to stop as Nina, with tears rolling down her face, the gun pointed toward the ceiling, fired. “Don’t touch me, Pete!”

Everyone turned to look at Pete, who was holding a rat in his hands, could only stutter. “I-I was j-j-just s-showing her a m-mouse.”

Nina pointed the pistol towards him. Gasps erupted from the room. Mr Zwicky began to inch forward, trying to grab the weapon, but at the rate he was moving from across the room, there were a million different outcomes.

Shaun thought back to when a synth at the Institute deviated and pointed a gun at a scientist. He remembered a courser scooting around, so he was behind the shooter, and creeping up to knock the Glock out of her hand.

Nina was already facing away from him. He could do this.

_Step._

Mr Zwicky swallowed. “Nina, put that down, please.”

_Step._

“I-I’m s-sorry.” Pete trembled.

_Step._

The rat squeaked and itched its face.

_Step._

Gavin took a paper clip out of the radio to silence it.

_Step._

Shaun was right behind Nina. All he needed to do was swoop forward and everything would be over.

His arm extended, reaching over her shoulder and cracking down on the gun. It went off, going down with a clang. Mr. Zwicky zoomed in and snatched it off the ground, handing it to Shaun. “Hold this,” He said. “I need to work with her.”

Nina was crying in the corner while Mr. Zwicky tried to console her. Ms. Edna was fetching a bandage for the bullet wound on Pete’s arm. It had only nicked the skin, prompting a slight bit of blood, but they all knew he was very lucky to have just a scratch.

Shaun turned the pistol over and over in his hand, his mind flashing back to what the courser did after he fetched the gun. He had pressed a button on the side, causing the part where the bullets were held to slip out. Then he had pulled back the sliding part and knocked a round out of the pipe inside.

It was a good thing that Nina had the same model, because Shaun knew exactly how to disarm it.

Gavin looked on surprised. “How do you know how to do that?”

He needed a false answer. “My dad.”

Later, as he opened the door and stepped into the house, he was met with Piper standing there, blocking his entry.

“Your dad told me to tell you to run up to Curie’s office. She wants to talk to you.”

Piper, who was right behind him, groaned. "Why does he get to do all the cool stuff?"

Shaun, being the more obedient, turned tail and dashed up to the elevator.

“So, Shaun, could you tell me what happened?” Curie’s face was soft, and Shaun could tell that she sincerely wanted to help.

He swallowed. “Um, well, Nina brought a gun in her backpack. She’s been doing it for a while now, and it made my dad kinda mad. But today, while we were having recess, she pointed it at the ceiling and shot it. The reason was that-do you know Pete Pembroke?”

She nodded. “Yes, I am familiar with Peter. His house is...troubled. What is his role in this?”

“He was trying to show Nina a rat and she didn’t want to see the rat. She kept saying she didn’t, so she grabbed her bag and took out the gun and shot it at the roof. Everybody was quiet. Mr. Zwicky was aiming to grab it, but he was moving real slow. I remembered seeing somebody grab a pistol this certain way, and so I grabbed it, but it shot Pete in the arm. It was just a little cut, though, he’s okay.”

Curie stood up. “Resume playing. I must go speak with your father.”

She left the room, leaving Shaun alone.


	2. Diamond City Safety Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erik decides to talk Curie into passing a new law, known as the Diamond City Safety Act.

Shaun walked over to a dresser and picked up a model car that was sitting on top of it. He turned it over and over in his hands, memorizing every detail. It had some rust on it, so he set to work with his file trying to shine it up. He always had his tool belt on. Well, it wasn’t really a tool belt, per se, more like the belt he wore all the time with some pouches on it.

It reminded him of a book that Liam used to read to him. At night, after everyone was in bed, Liam would sneak out and read stories to Shaun since nobody else would. Father called it ‘Unnecessary’, and that it wouldn’t do any use to his ‘Programming’, whatever that meant. His favorite was _Monkey_ _With_ _a Tool Belt_ , about a monkey named Chico who went around fixing things for his friends.

Liam was his favorite person there. Shaun hoped he got out okay.

After the car had most of the rust off, he grabbed his little bottle of grease and smeared some on the wheels so they could turn better. He rubbed his shirttail on the roof to get rid of the dust.

“There,” Shaun smiled. “Now it looks brand new.”

Right as he was putting the car back on the dresser, he could hear shouting coming from outside the room.

Shaun cracked the door to see Arturo getting chewed out by Dad. His face was all red, and his fist was clenching desperately. “Do you know what could’ve happened?” He screamed. “Your daughter, my son, hell, anybody in that room could be dead right now, if something had gone the wrong way!”

Arturo didn’t really seem too phased by this, but he was angry too, on the verge of yelling. “I taught her how to protect herself!”

“Well you didn’t teach her who to shoot!”

Suddenly it was quiet.

The vendor clasped his hands. “Put me in jail. I don’t care. But please, do not take away my little girl. I’ve already lost Camila. She’s all I have left.” Even from afar, Shaun could see tears in Arturo’s eyes. He could tell that he was very sad.

Dad didn’t really react. He just kind of stood there silently.

“I can’t lock you up, Arturo, not when you have that kid to take care of. But if any of your firearms are found on school property again without good reason, then I can’t guarantee what will happen to her or you.”

The man was motionless. Then he began to cry. Once, again, Dad was still.

After he was done and had dried his tears of joy, he handed Shaun’s father a sack of caps. He gave them back. “I can’t take your money. Go home and be with your daughter. Nina, she needs you.”

He gave a brisk nod. “Thank you.”

Later that night, as they were all eating dinner, there was a knock on the door. It was Paul Pembroke, looking extremely angry. Pete was at his side, arm bandaged and staring at the ground.

“Why isn’t Arturo in jail? Why isn’t he in jail after what happened to Pete?” His face was red, redder than Shaun had ever seen it.

Dad, in a tank top and jeans, shifted from foot to foot. Shaun could see how nervous he was. “We’re pressing for better gun laws, Paul,” His dad said. “It’ll be a while, though, we need to get ballots in and-”

“I didn’t ask about the damn ballots, Ackerrman! I want justice for my son!”

Dad’s jaw tightened. “Shaun and Nat, go upstairs.”

Nat gave out a loud sigh. “Why should I have to go up? I wanna see the-”

He whirled around. His eyes were serious. “I said. To go. Upstairs.”

After the kids were out of the way, Erik motioned for Pete to go with them. This made Paul even angrier. “Why would I let him go play with your kids? I make decisions for my son, not you!”

Erik’s hand clasped his shoulder. “It’s better this way. Trust me.”

With a loud sigh, the concerned father motioned for him to run along. “Don’t do anything dangerous, Peter.”

After Pete was up the stairs, Erik gestured for him to sit down. “You want a beer or something?”

Paul scratched his head. “Sure. Got any cigs too, while you’re at it?” The sarcasm dripped from his mouth like drool.

“Listen, buddy, I’m trying to be hospitable, okay? I just wanna talk. And only the beer. We don’t smoke in my house.”

Finally, after a lot of coaxing, Paul was seated with a bottle in hand. “So, I understand that you’re upset about what’s happened today? I’m here to fix that.”

Paul’s fists clenched. He set the beer down. “Damn right! I want justice for Petey!”

Erik could only let out a long sigh. “Alright, here’s the plan...”

Shaun was in the front row of the Diamond City Amphitheater, ready for Dad’s big speech. Next to him was Nat, who was groaning, grunting, and complaining about having to come down here and listen to Dad talk. “Why does Piper get to sit in the front and type? I wanna go home.”

“I don’t know, Nat. Be quiet. He’s about to start.”

Curie had been sitting on the stage in a chair, her eyes bright with anticipation. Shaun knew that Dad was getting the finishing touches on his suit. He was the general of the Minutemen, so he had to look sharp.

Shaun tugged at the collar of his striped polo shirt. It looked cool, but it was itchy. He hoped it wasn’t lice. He didn’t want to go through that again. He remembered how itchy his head was, and how he had to take a bath _twice a day_ in this really nasty soap ‘til they all died.

“Hello Diamond City!” The small crowd, maybe seventy-five people at the most, began to cheer. “I am most honored to welcome our speaker, Minutemen General Erik Ackerrman. Please, give him a warm welcome.”

Dad walked up to the podium and did that weird thing with where two grown-ups look like they’re gonna kiss each other on the cheek but they only brush their faces together. Codsworth had told him that it was a French custom or something.

Dad was waving at the people to quiet down so he could start talking. “Okay, okay. I am here today to announce a law that has been in the making for a long while. It’s called the Diamond City Safety Act, and it’s here to protect all of our wonderful citizens.”

Dad walked over to a control panel and pressed a button. A projector in the back blared a picture of a pistol with some...numbers engraved on the side? It sure was one of the strangest things Shaun had ever seen. “First action. All firearms must be registered with a serial number, as presented above. Pre-War, this was so that you could identify who owned the gun by the code being scanned into a computer database. Not to worry, this will cost no money. Our arms dealer, Mr. Arturo Rodriguez, will do it for free. All we do is take a sharp tool and engrave a six digit code onto the side.”

Somebody raised their hand. It was Moe Cronin. “Do I hafta register my swatters? ‘Cuz I don’t wanna mar up the surface of my babies.”

Shaun’s father cleared his throat. “No, that’s usually not required. However, if it either shoots projectiles, or could be labeled as extremely dangerous, such as one with embedded nails, chain, or barbed wire, then yes.”

A few boos began to emerge. “I want freedom of me ‘havin whatever weapons I want, with or without a number! What’ll happen if I don’t take mine in to get scratched up?” A guy with dark hair styled in medieval-looking mullet started to yell. “Wasn’t this place the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

A frown emerged on Dad’s face. “The first time you are caught with an unregistered firearm will result in a warning along with one week to get it engraved. After that time to comply you will be fined fifty caps and given four days to get it etched. The third you will be jailed for two days and given a fine of one hundred. After getting released, two days for registration. If there is a fourth time, you will have twenty-four hours to fix it, or else you will be brought before a court to determine if you should be exiled.”

An uproar. People were yelling, saying bad words, throwing things. Dad didn’t flinch, just turned up the volume on the mic. “If you don’t agree with our new policy, you are free to leave!”

The yelling stopped instantly.

“The reason this is being initiated is for your safety! We’ve had four homicides in the last month. If you want to be protected, I recommend that you go along with it.”

The crowd dispersed. Nobody said a thing.

Shaun walked up to his father with a concerned look on his face. “Dad, do you think that people are gonna like this idea?”

Erik could only respond with, “I don’t know, kid, I honestly don’t know.”

There was a big sign up sheet in front of Arturo’s shop for somebody to sign up for an engraving appointment. The average process of etching on the numbers took about five minutes, and then you had to go up to the mayor’s office to get it put in the computers. Erin Reische’s dad worked up there along with a few other people, and from what Shaun heard, they were all sick of people complaining.

But he was surprised to learn over dinner that night that the man with the dark hair and weird style had actually come up and apologized to his dad.

Everybody stopped eating their radstag and looked intently at Erik as he told the story. He had introduced himself as Ulfberth and said that he was sorry. He knew that Diamond City needed to get safer and that the only way he could help was by following the rules and making sure that his friends do the same.

“Just don’t do it, that’s what I say,” Piper muttered. “Been saying it for years, yet I never follow up with my own advice.”

Shaun softly tapped her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Piper. I know that we all have a weakness. But remember, your weakness doesn’t make you weak.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you caught my Skyrim reference, I applaud you. I applaud you very much.  
> Also, I had a lot of fun writing this short! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

**Author's Note:**

> I got bored and was thinking about kids and guns. This came to mind.


End file.
